Sony Pictures co-chair Amy Pascal is stepping down in the wake of the hack attack on the studio that became a global incident. She will remain on the studio’s Culver City lot to start her own production company, which is to be financed by Sony.

“I have spent almost my entire professional life at Sony Pictures and I am energized to be starting this new chapter based at the company I call home,” said Pascal in a statement. “I have always wanted to be a producer.”

She will leave Sony Pictures and begin the new venture in May.

The move comes three months after the attack on Sony’s computer system that crippled the studio while revealing embarrassing correspondence between Pascal and movie stars, directors and fellow executives.

President Obama – himself the subject of some of those emails – blamed the cyberbreach on North Korea, whose leader Kim Jong-un was mocked in the Sony comedy “The Interview,” green lit by Pascal.

Pascal’s career with Sony has seen her become one of the most powerful women in Hollywood. She was the driving force behind hits “The Social Network” and “American Hustle” as well as the recent James Bond and Spider-Man franchises.

Michael Lynton, chief executive of Sony Pictures and Pascal’s co-chair, said he was “delighted” Sony would continue to work with Pascal in her new venture, saying in a statement, “The studio’s legacy is due in large part to Amy’s passion for storytelling and love of this industry.”